Gary Sutherlin (Motorcycle Racing) – 2017 PRO WORCS CHAMP

Congratulations to Gary Sutherlin on Winning the 2017 WORCS & National Hare and Hound Championships!

Gary Sutherlin 2017 WORCS AND National Hare & Hound Champion

Gary Sutherlin competes in off-road and endurance motorcycling. He makes his living racing motorcycles and even more he supports his daughter as a single dad, builds his own houses, as well as a plethora of other things. Gary was one of my favorite athletes in 2017 for many reasons. Like many athletes I help, Gary came to me for mainly for diet optimization. I always use a very thorough questionnaire and get to know the athlete well and as usual, there were many other things that I was able to help him optimize.

Diet optimization

Gary initially came to me wanting to lose some weight and gain some energy early in the season. He heard of the ketogenic diet and was determined to follow the instructions and do it himself. He achieved some weight loss, and after following the diet for some time, he found that he had a lack of energy, especially during the week and in his races. Gary and I went over his diet in detail and it was evident that he was mistiming the carbohydrates. Even more, he was not following a Well Formulated Ketogenic Diet. With a few tweaks we were able to dial in his nutrition and he got to where he was feeling very good in his training and racing. Helping Gary was more about optimizing fat metabolism then it was putting him on a strict ketogenic diet. We also added Vespa Wasp extract to his workout and race routine and it was one thing that helped him add to his marginal gains.

Salt Optimization

Optimizing Gary’s salt intake was huge. After we estimated his salt excretion rate, we found he sweats a moderate amount. I specifically recommended Tri salts which contain bicarbonate salts of various sorts to his drinks. We also had to take into account that his ketogenic diet was also causing him to lose more salt than normal and we had to make sure he took in enough salt. This also made a big difference. We also added a drink mix called Ketofuels, which are ketones with magnesium and sodium salts. The Ketofuels are a great salt delivery system during exercise and they deliver a small amount of ketones.

Iron Optimization

It is well known that Gary lost his spleen in a race some time ago. Without a spleen, iron metabolism is sometimes affected and this difference in iron must be corrected. We drew an iron panel from the local Labcorp and it indeed showed that his iron status could be optimized. Through a regimen of heme and non heme iron, we dialed in his iron levels and things got better.

Marc Pro

I was looking for ways to optimize Gary recovery. The Marc Pro nerve stimulator was a perfect tool. As Gary drives long distances to get to his races, he used the Marc Pro on his legs to promote circulation in his legs. After driving 10 hours to a race it is easy to see why this could make a difference. Also, Gary had a lower leg and shoulder injuries that he was dealing with. He used the Marc Pro on both of these injuries and it certainly facilitated his recovery from these injuries.

Tegaderm

Gary had a pretty knarly leg injury from his pipe early in the season. When he showed me the injury, I thought it might become infected. I showed him proper wound care and sent him a huge sheet of Tegaderm with Iodine. You can’t buy this stuff. He used it for some weeks and the Tegaderm allowed him to sleep better, facilitating his recover as well as allowed him to continue training while keeping the wound clean.

Gary still maintains his career racing AMA Enduro Cross, WORCS Series, AMA Hare Scrambles Championship, and X Games Enduro Cross. He’s currently the 2017 WORCS series champion and leading the National Hare & Hound Series. Gary races for Purvines/DA8 Racing / John Burr Cycles Yamaha out of Las Vegas, Nevada. He signed a three-year deal.

Doc Edwards helps Gary with Nutrition, Health, Recovery, Injury Management, and anything else we can do to keep him on track. Gary is a great example of someone who is strict with his diet and it has payed off for him.